IRELAND

Report on the Determination of the Assigned Amount

pursuant to Article 8(1)(e) of Decision 280/2004/EC

as required by Article 23 of Decision 2005/166/EC

Submitted to the European Commission

in accordance with

Decision 280/2004/EC and Decision 2005/166/EC

Background

Under Article 7 of Decision 280/2004/EC (EP and CEU, 2004) the European Community and each Member State shall, by 31 December 2006 at the latest, each submit a report to the UNFCCC secretariat determining their assigned amount as equal to their respective emission levels determined pursuant to Article 3 of Decision 2002/358/EC (CEC, 2002). In order to ensure full and effective cooperation and coordination in the timely preparation and delivery of these submissions, Article 23 of Decision 2005/166/EC (CEC, 2005), laying down rules implementing Decision 280/2004/EC, specifies the items of information that Member States are required to submit to the Commission by 15 January 2006, corresponding to those specified in the modalities for the accounting of assigned amount under Article 7.4 of the Kyoto Protocol (Annex to Decision 19/CP.7, FCCC/CP/2001/13/Add.2). This submission constitutes the provisional information for Ireland required under Article 23 of Decision 2005/166/EC.

(a) Annual Inventories 1990-2004

Complete inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol have been compiled for Ireland for the years 1990-2004 and have been submitted to the European Commission in accordance with the requirements set down in Decision 280/2004/EC. The summary compilation of these annual emissions and removals, corresponding to that contained in the CRF Reporter submission to the UNFCCC Secretariat on 12 April 2006, are given in Annex I. They show that total emissions (all greenhouse gases and excluding LULUCF) increased by 23 percent from 55,613.62 Gg CO2 equivalent in 1990 to 68,460.46 Gg CO2 equivalent in 2004. The combined emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O in 1990 were 55,577.430 Gg CO2 equivalent. The Land-Use Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector constituted a small net source of emissions in 1990, amounting to 108.17 Gg CO2 equivalent.

(b) Base Year for HFC, PFC and SF6

Ireland elects to adopt 1995 as the base year with respect to the emissions of HFC, PFC and SF6. The estimate of emissions of HFC, PFC and SF6 in 2005 is 202.806 Gg CO2 equivalent (Annex I).

(c) Calculation of Assigned Amount

Article 3.7 of the Kyoto Protocol states that the assigned amount for each Annex I Party shall be equal to the percentage inscribed for it in Annex B of its aggregate anthropogenic carbon dioxide equivalent emissions of the greenhouse gases listed in Annex A in the base year multiplied by five. Article 3.7 further states that those Parties for whom land-use change and forestry constituted a net source of emissions in the base year shall include in their base year emissions the net emissions from land-use change. The modalities for the accounting of assigned amount (Annex to Decision 19/CP.7, FCCC/CP/2001/13/Add.2) specify that the emissions to be added from land use change are the net emissions reported in relation to the conversion of forests (deforestation).

The proposed emission level for Ireland in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent is determined in accordance with the quantified emission limitation or reduction commitments set out in Annex II of Decision 2002/358/EC and Articles 3.7 and 3.8 of the Kyoto Protocol following the establishment of the definitive base year emissions estimates. The quantified emission limitation or reduction commitment for the EU is 92 percent and accordingly this value is also specified for all 15 Member States in Annex B to the Kyoto Protocol. However, in accordance with Annex II of Decision 2002/358/EC, the appropriate quantified emission limitation for Ireland is 113 percent.

As Ireland has selected 1995 as the base year for emissions of HFC, PFC and SF6 and LULUCF constituted a net source of emissions in 1990, Ireland’s assigned amount (AA) is calculated as follows

AA = [ E(CO2, CH4, N2O)1990 + E(HFC, PFC, SF6 )1995 + Edefor] * 1.13 * 5

where E(CO2, CH4, N2O)1990 is the definitive estimate of combined emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O in1990 in tonnes CO2 equivalent and similarly E(HFC, PFC, SF6 )1995 is the definitive estimate of combined HFC, PFC and SF6 emissions in 1995 in tonnes CO2 equivalent and Edefor is the net emissions from the conversion of forest land in 1990 in tonnes CO2 equivalent. Using the relevant emissions estimates for the years 1990 and 1995 from Annex I of this report and recognising that no emissions are reported for deforestation in 1990, the assigned amount is

AA = ( 55,577,430 + 202,806 + 0.0 ) * 1.13 * 5 tonnes CO2 eq

= 315,158,338 tonnes CO2 eq

(d) Commitment Period Reserve

The commitment period reserve is the lower of the two values given by 90 percent of the assigned amount and five times the estimate of total emissions in the most recently reviewed inventory year (Annex to Decision 18/CP.7, FCCC/CP/2001/13/Add.2). The inventory of 2003 submitted in 2005 is the most recently reviewed inventory for Ireland. The total emissions in 2003 amounted to 67,554,473 tonnes CO2 equivalent and five times this estimate is 337,772,366 tonnes CO2 equivalent. This value is greater than 90 percent of the assigned amount (283,642,504 tonnes CO2 equivalent) and therefore the commitment period reserve is 283,642,504 tonnes CO2 equivalent.

(e) Definition of Forest for use in Accounting for Activities under Article 3.3

Forest is a minimum land area of 0.1 hectares, with a minimum width of 20 metres, with a tree crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of 20 percent or more, with trees having a potential to reach a minimum height of 5 metres at maturity in situ. Young natural stands and all plantations that have yet to reach a crown density of 20 percent or a tree height of 5 metres are included under forest. Areas normally forming part of the forest area that are temporarily un-stocked as a result of human intervention, such as harvesting or natural causes such as wind-throw, but which are expected to revert to forest are also included. This forest definition is the same as given in the submission made by Ireland

to the FAO Forest Resource Assessment 2005 (FRA 2005,

(f) Election of Activities under Article 3.4 and Identification of Land Areas

Ireland elects not to include any of the activities under Article 3.4 (forest management, cropland management, grazing land management and revegetation) in its accounting for the first commitment period.

Areas of land subject to activities under Article 3.3 in Ireland will be identified as follows

(i)Afforestation - the Forest Service IFORIS system - a wall-to-wall system that identifies each area of land afforested since 1990 that has been in receipt of grant aid (very close to full coverage of all afforestation since 1990);

(ii)Afforestation and deforestation - the Forest Service has established a sample-based national continuous forest inventory. The first phase is currently underway and is due for completion in 2006. It will track both afforestation (using the forest defintion under (b) above and deforestation (consistent with the Marrakesh Accords).

(iii)Deforestation – determined through the Forest Service felling licence system which tracks all areas subject to felling and which from 2006 will have a specific sub-module to track carbon stock changes due to deforestation.

The information for such areas required for inventory purposes will be made available to COFORD (the national forest research institute) and the Environmental Protection Agency, which performs the role of inventory agency, in accordance with Memoranda of Understanding agreed with the Forest Service and COFORD for the formal delivery of the national data on an annual basis.

(g) Frequency of Accounting for Article 3.3

Ireland elects to account for the entire commitment period in respect of activities under Article 3.3.

(h) National System

A description of Ireland’s national system is provided in Annex II to this report.

(i) National Registry

Ireland’s national registry is being established initially for the implementation of Directive 2003/87/EC (EP and CEU, 2003) on emissions trading. This registry will also serve as Ireland's National Registry for Kyoto. It includes the provision of a Party Holding Account for the use of ERUs, CERs, AAUs, and RMUs. It also contains the provision for a Retirement Account and a Cancellation account. The Registry software was purchased from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the U.K. and has been developed in consultation with the 16 other Member States who also purchased this software as part of the GRETA group. The registry establised connectivity with the supplementary transaction log, CITL, in 2004 and awaits the development of the ITL in order to establish connectivity with same. A description of the registry may be found in the Initialisation Fact Sheet in Annex IIIand various supporting documentation submitted to the European Commission during 2005.

References

CEU (Council of the European Union), 2002. Council Decision 2002/358/CE concerning the approval on behalf of the European Community of the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC and the joint fulfillment of commitments thereunder. O.J. L130, 15 May 2002.

EP and CEU (European Parliament and Council of the European Union), 2003. Directive 2003/87/EC establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC. O.J. L275, 25 October 2003.

EP and CEU (European Parliament and Council of the European Union), 2004. Decision 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol. O.J. L49, 19 February 2004.

CEC (Commission of the European Communities), 2005. Commission Decision 2005/166/EC of 10 February 2005 laying down rules implementing Decision No 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto ProtocolO. J. L 055, 1 March 2005.

ANNEX I Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Ireland 1990-2004

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS / 1990 / 1991 / 1992 / 1993 / 1994 / 1995 / 1996 / 1997 / 1998 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004
CO2 emissions
including LULUCF / 32,667.65 / 32,858.83 / 33,437.87 / 32,823.02 / 34,163.99 / 34,987.89 / 36,374.48 / 38,639.74 / 40,090.59 / 41,890.74 / 44,238.96 / 46,530.37 / 45,509.39 / 44,136.60 / 45,194.89
CO2 emissions
excluding LULUCF / 32,559.48 / 32,556.64 / 33,088.07 / 32,701.35 / 34,115.79 / 34,782.67 / 36,081.48 / 38,503.75 / 40,305.53 / 42,136.03 / 44,240.93 / 46,704.25 / 45,700.51 / 44,519.38 / 45,266.48
CH4 / 13,215.96 / 13,396.72 / 13,468.58 / 13,584.48 / 13,584.24 / 13,658.67 / 14,061.52 / 14,319.02 / 14,259.35 / 13,732.07 / 13,376.07 / 13,172.85 / 13,146.94 / 13,735.97 / 13,285.28
N2O / 9,801.99 / 9,632.70 / 9,654.21 / 9,779.97 / 10,086.57 / 10,279.24 / 10,361.68 / 10,320.58 / 10,905.14 / 11,034.23 / 10,521.43 / 10,054.19 / 9,565.64 / 9,399.85 / 9,243.07
HFCs / 0.69 / 5.13 / 5.89 / 8.89 / 20.45 / 44.60 / 75.64 / 130.99 / 189.02 / 194.83 / 228.93 / 253.07 / 288.84 / 357.91 / 399.25
PFCs / 0.09 / 0.09 / 0.09 / 0.09 / 75.38 / 75.38 / 103.09 / 130.82 / 61.87 / 195.93 / 305.41 / 295.98 / 212.40 / 228.79 / 196.37
SF6 / 35.40 / 36.38 / 37.36 / 38.33 / 81.85 / 82.83 / 102.06 / 132.10 / 94.24 / 68.96 / 55.91 / 69.43 / 70.22 / 118.59 / 70.01
Total (including LULUCF) / 55,721.79 / 55,929.86 / 56,604.00 / 56,234.78 / 58,012.48 / 59,128.60 / 61,078.47 / 63,673.26 / 65,600.21 / 67,116.76 / 68,726.69 / 70,375.90 / 68,793.43 / 67,977.72 / 68,388.86
Total (excluding LULUCF) / 55,613.62 / 55,627.66 / 56,254.20 / 56,113.11 / 57,964.28 / 58,923.38 / 60,785.47 / 63,537.27 / 65,815.15 / 67,362.05 / 68,728.67 / 70,549.78 / 68,984.55 / 68,360.50 / 68,460.46
GREENHOUSE GAS SOURCE AND SINK CATEGORIES / 1990 / 1991 / 1992 / 1993 / 1994 / 1995 / 1996 / 1997 / 1998 / 1999 / 2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004
1. Energy / 31,665.36 / 31,757.08 / 32,387.91 / 32,008.14 / 33,269.36 / 34,002.81 / 35,287.99 / 37,493.27 / 39,512.58 / 41,500.00 / 43,097.80 / 45,402.54 / 44,507.99 / 44,346.10 / 44,400.91
2. Industrial Processes / 3,166.43 / 2,866.26 / 2,781.45 / 2,746.11 / 3,117.66 / 3,062.75 / 3,204.72 / 3,656.26 / 3,494.73 / 3,560.03 / 4,186.65 / 4,294.30 / 3,734.39 / 3,050.92 / 3,169.72
3. Solvent and Other Product Use / 80.94 / 82.82 / 83.04 / 83.50 / 84.40 / 86.19 / 86.87 / 87.28 / 88.33 / 85.01 / 80.32 / 79.55 / 77.20 / 75.71 / 74.47
4. Agriculture / 19,240.15 / 19,425.74 / 19,460.76 / 19,688.71 / 19,856.60 / 20,083.07 / 20,455.48 / 20,582.13 / 21,207.28 / 20,787.46 / 19,712.98 / 19,296.04 / 19,058.84 / 19,137.49 / 18,981.72
5. Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry / 108.17 / 302.20 / 349.80 / 121.67 / 48.20 / 205.22 / 293.01 / 135.99 / -214.94 / -245.29 / -1.98 / -173.88 / -191.12 / -382.78 / -71.60
6. Waste / 1,460.75 / 1,495.77 / 1,541.04 / 1,586.65 / 1,636.26 / 1,688.55 / 1,750.39 / 1,718.33 / 1,512.23 / 1,429.55 / 1,650.92 / 1,477.36 / 1,606.13 / 1,750.28 / 1,833.63
7. Other / NA / NA / NA / NA / NA / NA / NA / NA / NA / NA / NA / NA / NA / NA / NA
Total (including LULUCF) / 55,721.79 / 55,929.86 / 56,604.00 / 56,234.78 / 58,012.48 / 59,128.60 / 61,078.47 / 63,673.26 / 65,600.21 / 67,116.76 / 68,726.69 / 70,375.90 / 68,793.43 / 67,977.72 / 68,388.86

Annex II

NATIONAL INVENTORY SYSTEM OF IRELAND

Overview

A National Inventory System (NIS) is defined in the Marrakech Accords as all institutional, legal and procedural arrangements made within a Party for estimating anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases and for reporting and archiving inventory information. The National Inventory System in Ireland supports compliance with Decision 280/2004/EC and the Kyoto Protocol for Ireland’s annual emission inventories and reports to the EU and UNFCCC, respectively. The NIS establishes the process of GHG inventory data compilation, and reporting as a formal inter-institutional network, clearly designating the responsibilities to the GHG inventory preparation process across Government Departments, national agencies and other stakeholder groups. Previously, the EPA has led on all GHG inventory related activities and the involvement of Government Departments and other stakeholders has been on a predominantly informal basis. The NIS for Ireland is to be formalized shortly in a memorandum to Government and shall operate in accordance with the “general functions” of NIS specified in the Marrakech Accords, which are

  • To establish and maintain the institutional, legal and procedural arrangements necessary to perform functions defined for National Systems between Government Departments, Agencies and other GHG inventory stakeholders;
  • To ensure sufficient capacity for timely performance of the functions defined in the Marrakech Accords for National Systems, including data collection, processing, reporting, inventory QA/QC, review & improvement, documentation and archiving, and arrangements to ensure high standards of technical competence of Inventory Agency staff;
  • To designate a Single National Entity with overall responsibility for the national inventory;
  • To ensure that annual GHG inventories and supplementary information are prepared and submitted in a timely manner such that all information is provided to meet the various reporting requirements.

In order to meet the general objectives set out for National Systems, “specific functions” related to the planning, preparation and management of the inventory must be undertake. In practical terms, the aims of the NIS are to secure the provision of source data pertaining to GHG emissions:

(a)Of sufficient quality for inventory reporting to required IPCC/UNFCCC standards;

(b)In a timescale that enables thorough review, processing and reporting to the EC and to the UNFCCC;

(c)To safeguard delivery of the GHG inventory in future years;

(d)That improves existing inventory source data, using the most appropriate activity data for a given source and integrating current best scientific knowledge regarding emissions (e.g. emission factors) for key sources.

To achieve these aims, the NIS is designed to strengthen the existing inventory organisational network between key stakeholder groups (the Single National Entity, the inventory agency and key data provider organisations) by implementing mechanisms:

  • To communicate the requirements of the GHG inventory and Government climate change commitments, policies & mechanisms across Government Departments, Agencies and other stakeholders.
  • To ensure that the key stakeholder groups are resourced to an appropriate level to fulfil their responsibilities and meet the requirements of quality and timeliness of GHG data compilation and reporting.
  • To provide an appropriate forum for more regular interactions between stakeholder groups through the formalisation of the Inventory Review Group, including defined Terms of Reference regarding responsibilities for inventory development and resources.

The guidelines for NIS stipulate that Parties shall elaborate an inventory QA/QC plan and implement the QA/QC procedures described in that plan as part of their annual inventory preparation and reporting cycle. The EPA will take responsibility for the management of the QA/QC system developed for the NIS during 2005, and has begun to implement rigorous QA /QC procedures that include:

(a)Clearly defined requirements concerning the scope, quality and time-series of raw data used by the EPA GHG inventory team, and clearer guidance to Key Data Providers (KDPs) regarding the QC procedures that should be built into data required by the EPA, through the development of Data Supply Agreements.

(b)These Data Supply Agreements also aim to improve the timeliness of raw data provision to the EPA, and encourage greater integration of KDPs in the review and improvement of data processing and emission estimation methods.

(c)The inventory agency has implemented an improved system for the logging and annotation of inventory data processing systems and spreadsheets, to improve the transparency of emission estimations and enable the system to be more flexible and inclusive for new staff. This also includes a more consistent and rigorous system for documentation and archiving of GHG inventory information.

(d)The development of a functional Inventory Review Group to manage and support the GHG improvement process has been initiated through increased involvement of KDP contacts in the inventory compilation process. Increased in-country review mechanisms are under development.

The Single National Entity

The single national entity shall be designated in the memorandum to Government and will have overall responsibility for the national inventory.

The Inventory Agency

The EPA currently performs the role of inventory agency in Ireland with responsibility for the compilation and reporting of emissions data to the EC and the UNFCCC Secretariat. This de facto role will be formalized in the memorandum to Government. The role of inventory agency was formerly adopted by the EPA as part of broadly defined functions set down in Sections 52 and 55 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act of 1992. The EPA performs the key inventory compilation functions including collecting data from a wide range of suppliers, selecting appropriate emission estimation methods according to IPCC guidance, compiling the inventory, undertaking QA/QC procedures and preparation of reports to the EC and UNFCCC on behalf of the Irish Government. The Agency role is expanding to cover activities related to NIS implementation

Planning

  • Close co-ordination with Single National Entity to deliver NIS;
  • Review of current NIS performance and identifying further development;
  • Scheduling of tasks and responsibilities to deliver GHG inventory and NIS on time, to budget and to quality-based criteria.

Preparation

  • Drafting of agreements with Key Data Providers;
  • Review of source data and identification of reviews and developments required to improve GHG inventory quality.

Management

  • Documentation and archiving;
  • Dissemination of NIS and GHG inventory information;
  • Data processing and reporting under Decision 280/2004/EC and UNFCCC.

The Inventory Review Group

The Inventory Review Group plays a key role in inventory stakeholder communications and within the programme of improvement of inventory quality in general, including specific functions relating to the recommended independent and peer reviews of the inventory.

Planning

  • Co-ordination with Single National Entity and Inventory Agency to promote development of the NIS across Government Departments and national agencies;
  • Assistance to Single National Entity in assigning roles and responsibilities for all inventory stakeholders, especially in the communication of tasks and priorities for KDPs;
  • Identification of NIS resource constraints and assisting the Single National Entity in the communication and provision of resource requirements for NIS development.

Management

  • Data processing and reporting under Decision 280/2004/EC and UNFCCC;
  • Independent review of GHG inventory to assess current NIS performance and assisting the Inventory Agency in the identification and prioritisation of required improvements;
  • Dissemination of NIS and GHG inventory information across Government Departments and national agencies;
  • Integration of GHG inventory and related energy and climate change data in wider environmental policy.

Key Data Providers

The KDPs are identified as essential contributors to the NIS and they play a significant role in the development of the quality of the inventory. This is reflected in the commitments of the Government within the Memoranda of Understanding that have been developed to formalise relationships under the NIS. The following responsibilities are appropriate to the KDP organisations within the context of an appropriate and practicable programme of continuous improvement over the coming years: